Viking Odin Review
A delightful, scenic, and historic river cruise in Germany + Paris
Rating by category
Additional details
This is a review of the Viking River Cruise that my wife and I recently enjoyed. I hope to provide some insight and tips for those who may be interested in doing a river cruise, doing one with Viking, or repeating the itinerary that we did (Paris to Prague, the 12-day Cities of Light trip). Overall the trip was excellent, accompanied with pleasing lagniappe (surprises), except for a sloppy screw-up with the bus transportation for the excursion in Prague.
My wife and I have done a few ocean cruises with Disney, Paul Gauguin, and Holland America Line (HAL). We have read about river cruises and like the concept of a leisurely boat trip through rivers and canals. We had a thoroughly enjoyable experience on one of our HAL cruises when we transited the Kiel Canal in northern Germany. My wife’s only stipulation was that the ship has to be new or recently refurbished. Viking Cruise Lines was a match, because river cruising is apparently a booming business, and Viking launched 12 new longships in 2012 and 2013.
Here is what appealed to us before the trip: the itinerary (Paris, the German rivers, Prague), the small number of passengers, inclusion of a “land package” (tours in Paris, Luxembourg, and Prague), actual balconies for most of the cabins (with chairs and a table for relaxing outside), and the included optional excursions.
Cabin Review
Our cabin (315) on the ship, a Category A Verandah room, was well designed and sufficiently spacious. The queen size bed was comfortable. There were plenty of drawers, a closet, a safe, a refrigerator, and a chair. The refrigerator even has a cut-away portion on the top shelf, so that you can chill a bottle standing up (another nice extra, compliments of Viking). My only criticism of the room is that there is a lack of places to hang up items to air out; there were only 2 hooks on the back of the door and a string line in the shower. The TV allowed you to see a GPS map of the location of the ship on the rivers. There was a good selection of music and movies on the TV. Unfortunately, the slideshow of photos did not work on the TV; you could only see the photos taken by ship staff (most often by the Program Director) on the TV screens in the ship lounge. Suitcases easily fit under the bed. The shower door could be closed (unlike some of the European hotel rooms that had a half glass partition). I liked the L’Occitane toiletry products in the bathroom. Be aware that the bathroom sink is designed so that if you wash your hands, some water splatters onto the counter, which runs off the counter onto the bathroom floor below. Your cabin was quickly and efficiently serviced by Housekeeping at least twice a day.